2022 budget: APC condemns Obaseki’s N214.2bn proposal

The All Progressives Congress, Edo State chapter on Sunday, condemned the 2022 budget proposal of Governor Godwin Obaseki, alleging that he duplicated projects to siphon state funds.

Victor Ofure Osehobo, the Assistant State Publicity of the party further stated that the budget proposal by the Peoples Democratic Party-led government in the state was unrealistic.

Godwin Obaseki had on Wednesday submitted a budget proposal of N214.2b which he tagged “Budget of Renewal, Hope and Growth” to the 10-man state House of Assembly.

The statement noted that Obaseki last year said his government had closed a N25 billion 5-year bond at a record price of nine per cent to fund the 2021 budget but did not mention the current status of the N25 Billion bond.

He said, “On a closer look, the 2022 Obaseki budget proposal, is completely unrealistic and embellished with impractical predictions, a development that confirms fears by many Edo people that this administration is obviously still trying unsuccessfully to lay a foundation for governance as Obaseki himself declared, 5 years on!

“The proposal again illustrates that Governor Obaseki has perfected the art of wasting Edo State’s funds on frivolities; how does he explain the allocation of N21 billion for government buildings and another N15 billion to enhance the work environment.

“As expected, the Obaseki 2022 estimates are padded and this can be deduced from such spurious allocations as providing social and youth development, N5billion; technology enhancement, N7.6billion; effective fiscal and business-friendly regulatory policies, N4.5billion.

“The proposal includes water, which is non-existent and which the government has never attempted to provide anywhere in the state, for N1.2billion. This is as ridiculous as the provision of N1.5 billion for citizen re-orientation and social protection, and N9.2 billion for public safety and security, which are suspicious and questionable, and call for answers.

The party claimed that the education sector was worse hit with the governor’s position that children in primary schools in Nigeria now learn three times more than they used to learn with the old pedagogue and that the state has the least number of out of school in the country. He alleged that the governor had no plan of repaying the several loans and bonds.

“The Obaseki-led PDP Government certainly is trying to use its ‘bogus’ MEGA programme and “phantom” technology cum public and civil service reforms and the creation of an investor-friendly environment in the state as cover and conduit to take loans and cancel repayments.”

Godwin Obaseki was first sworn in as governor on 12 November 2016, before then he had served as the chairman of the Edo State Economic and Strategy Team inaugurated by former Governor Adams Oshiomole in March 2009.